montreal: Coscient Group of Montreal and Chaman Productions of Paris have signed a coproduction deal for the 3D animation feature Gaina. The storylines have been developed in France but much of the actual production, including key animation, lighting, mapping and compositing, on the us$8 million majority French movie will be done in Montreal, says Andre Belanger, youth and animation president at Coscient (formerly Cactus Animation).

A ‘film fantastique’ aimed at teens and sci-fi buffs, Gaina is the first cgi movie to be produced in French, according to Belanger. It will be released in the summer of 2000.

Chaman is headed by president Denis Friedman and is a partnership with the Humanoids Group.

Current animation coproduction at Coscient, all with French partners, includes Pirates (26 half-hours coproduced with Ellipsanime, formerly Ellipse Animation, and presold to France 3 and Societe Radio-Canada), Fantomette (26 half-hours coproduced with Elma, owned by Ellipsanime and presold to Tele-Quebec, France 3, Canal J), Papyrus (13 half-hour episodes coproduced with Dupuis/Mediatoon and presold to src and TF1) and The Fly/La Mouche (65 five-minute episodes coproduced with Futurikon, Paris, and presold to animation specialty channel Teletoon in Canada, wdr in Germany and France 3). Hit Entertainment is also distributing The Fly.

Combined budgets on Coscient’s current animation slate represent cumulative coproduction budgets of over $32 million. Delivery dates are January or September 2000, except for The Fly, which will be delivered this fall. Typically, projects are aimed at ages seven to 12. Motion International has various international rights on Coscient products.

Projects in development at Coscient’s three-year-old animation division include La Tente des Secrets/Spinning Tales, based on a La Courte Echelle novel; Marsupilami, a coproduction with France’s acclaimed Protecrea, based on a Franquin-scripted comic book series; and a new majority Canadian 3D series, Xcalibur, an updated fantasy of the classic story with a heroine at the center of the action. Belanger expects all four series to go into production in 1999.